Microsoft Security Essentials Alert Malware

September 8, 2010 webmaster Rogue, 3

Microsoft warns of the fake Microsoft Security Essentials Alert that was discovered to pretend as a security tool from the software giant. In fact, it is a fake program trying to scam computer owners and earn a profit from this fraudulent activity. Microsoft Security Essentials Alert malware is introduced in an alert message reporting various threat details. It will give an option to fix the computer and remove the threat by providing a “Scan Online” button. Clicking on it, will load a new window that display a number of available programs. There are actually so many legitimate programs present on the choices but mixed with rogue ones. Noticeably, only those fake programs are executable including Red Cross, Peak Protection, Pert Detector, Major Defense Kit and AntiSpy Safeguard.

Any indication on the presence of Microsoft Security Essentials Alert Malware on the computer should be given special attention and clean right away with a real anti-virus program. Try to restore the computer to previous restore points created on Windows System Restore. This migth give you a clean and fresh working environment. It is best to have an anti-malware program installed that provides real-time scanning to block malicious Internet activities that can dropped rogue programs like Microsoft Security Essentials Alert Malware.

Type	Rogue
Sub-Type	FakeAV
Aliases
OS Affected	Windows
Detected By	MalwareBytes

What are the Symptoms of ”Microsoft Security Essentials Alert” Malware Infection?

It will modify Windows Registry and add the following entries:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon “Shell” = “%UserProfile%\Application Data\antispy.exe”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PAV
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “WarnonBadCertRecving” = “0″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “WarnOnPostRedirect” = “0″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “tmp”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce “SelfdelNT”

The threat will drop the following malicious files:
%UserProfile%\Application Data\PAV\
%UserProfile%\Application Data\antispy.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\defender.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\tmp.exe
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\[random]

How to Remove ”Microsoft Security Essentials Alert” Manually

1. Restart your computer in SafeMode
- After Power-On the computer, just before Windows start, press F8
- From the selections, Select SafeMode

2. Remove Registry entries that the threat added. You MUST BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST.
- Click Start > Run
- Type in the field, regedit
- Navigate and look for the registry entries mentioned above and delete if necessary

3. Delete malicious files that the threat added:
- Base on the given location above, browse and delete the file
- If no location is given, click Start>Search> and search for the files.
- If cannot be deleted, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to access Task Manager, see if the file is running in the process. If it is, select the file and click End Process. Perform file delete again.

4. Scan computer with Antivirus Program
- Update antivirus program
- Scan computer and delete all detected threats.

How to Easily Remove “Microsoft Security Essentials Alert”

1. Download and run Removal Tool to remove this computer threat.

Live Security Suite Firewall Alert AntiSpy Safeguard